Insect netting?

[LaineyLR]

Hi! I'm fairly new to gardening. This is only my second year vegetable gardening and my first post on this site I have a mix of container and raised beds. There is something munching on my eggplants and I'm thinking of covering them with netting and was wondering what the cheapest route would be. Can I use mosquito netting or does it have to be netting specifically for gardening? Thanks!

[GardeningCook]

Your best bet would be lightweight (aka "insect weight) floating row covers.

Unfortunately, you'll have to keep that in mind for next year. If you put the covers on now, all you'll be doing is trapping the pests inside, giving them a wonderful hotel/spa environment to continue their munching. Floating row covers need to applied right after seeds are sown &/or seedlings are planted. To cover yours now would be a waste of time & money. Sorry.

If you can identify the pest pestering your eggplants (most likely Flea Beetles), perhaps try an organic insecticidal soap. Safer brand has worked for me.

[imafan26]

Send a picture of the eggplant damage. Some insect damage is easy to id even if you don't see the pest. Check under the leaves for larvae and eggs and if you don't see anything go out at night with a flashlight. It is especially good to go out after it has rained. The night munchers are usually most active between dusk and 10 p.m. The other time to go out would be in the early morning in the half light before the sun comes up.

[pepperhead212]

Welcome to the board!

What kind of insects are you having problems with? Are they flea beetles - those little black bugs that get underneath the leaves, and chew a mesh into them? That's the worst bug I have for eggplants, and from early on in the season I spray the plants with Surround - a kaolin clay compound that keeps a lot of insects off, because they don't like the feel of it! I make sure I get under the leaves, as this is where they congregate.

Mosquito netting is used by some people to cover smaller areas, but the problem with putting that on is that once the bugs are there, it will be a breeding ground for them, and things might get worse. This happens with many bugs that come up out of the ground. And flea beetles winter over in the ground, so covering might not be the solution. But then, you might have a different insect causing your problem, that migrates in.

Ultra-light fabrics, like Agribon, are designed for covering plants to keep insects out. They have heavier ones for frost protection, but the light weight ones let more heat out, and more light in. Here is what I use:
https://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-5456-agrib ... x-250.aspx

I cover some of my peppers to keep out pepper maggot flies, which fly in and lay eggs on them, so covering solves this problem! If it is this type of insect on yours, this might be the solution. Just watch out for other problems under any cover - I have a problem with aphids showing up, so I have to watch closely. I have put eggplants in open spots where pepper seedlings have died in the past, and they grew better then the uncovered ones!

Here is a close-up photo of my pepper cover - I put the fabric over a series of hoops, and make a hoop house, sealing it along the edges with whatever I have around to weight it down.


And here is a photo showing it uncovered, to show how it is formed from the hoops. There's an eggplant in there this year, though it's hard to see, with those overgrown peppers!

[LaineyLR]

Thanks everyone for the feedback! Good advice on the insects being trapped inside the netting. Lesson learned for next year Ive had a handful of pests I've been able to control but this is the first time I've had something eat the actual vegetable. I usually check my plants at night and again in the morning but I haven't seen the culprit yet. I also have something eating some of the leaves on my squash that seem to be a different kind of bite mark than the other pests I've had. Wondering if it could be a grasshopper or crickets? I've noticed a lot of them near my garden lately. I tried to attach some pics of the damage, hopefully it worked

[GardeningCook]

Could be grasshoppers going after fresh stuff. Crickets tend to prefer old decomposing vegetation.

[imafan26]

It could be Colorado Potato beetle damage. They eat the leaves and bore holes in fruit. Look for orange eggs on the bottoms of the leaves. Other beetles and moth larvae are possibilities.

If the holes were bigger I would say snails an slugs. But they aren't that dainty and their holes are larger and more coarse.

https://extension.umd.edu/growit/insect ... ato-beetle

[LaineyLR]

Thanks again for the info. I actually found some orange eggs on a tomato plant that is next to my eggplant about a month ago and again a few days ago. I put them in soapy water and sprayed the plants with bt because I assumed they were caterpillar eggs. I've yet to see an adult potato beetle but will do a thorough check tonight and see if I spot any.

[LaineyLR]

Doing a walk through of the garden and found these on my jalapeños. Any advice on the best way to get rid of them?

[GardeningCook]

Those are juvenile grasshoppers. You can try insecticidal soap or a permethrin-based spray at this stage. Those won't always work on the harder-shelled adults, but at this stage can be effective.